Sandy

According to a new study by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), the NOAA forecasts of Hurricane Sandy’s track could have been hundreds of miles off without information from polar-orbiting satellites. Rather than identifying the New Jersey landfall location within 30 miles five-days before landfall, the models would have shown Sandy remaining at sea.

The International Charter: Space and Major Disasters was activated twice in the context of Hurricane Sandy - the largest Atlantic tropical storm system on record. UNITAR/UNOSAT on behalf of UNOCHA activated the mechanism on 29 October 2012 for Haiti. Hurricane Sandy tore through the Caribbean between 26-28 October, leaving a reported 51 dead in Haiti and another 15 missing.